The computer-controlled language training system developed through the course of initial work commencing in 1971 is now being extended for research with severely and profoundly retarded children at the Georgia Retardation Center, for research with Lana chimpanzee to assess her capacity for additional linguistic functions and skills, and for research with four other chimpanzees to assess the value of that species as an animal model where either ethical constraints or the degree of experimental control precludes use of children. Research to date reveals that even among the severely and profoundly retarded population, there are those who have the capacity for substantial language learning through use of the above-referenced system. Two out of nine children worked with intensively to date give evidence of promise for mastery of sizeable vocabularies (several hundred?) and the ability to use their skills in spontaneous, creative conversations with their teachers and others. Proposed work will include (1) continued study of six children, (2) study of ways whereby their skills can be extended through portable language units to their live-a-day worlds, (3) the development of computer-assisted language training programs, first with chimpanzees and then with children, and (4) study of chimp-to-chimp communication regarding the nature of hidden incentives, tools which one needs for obtaining an incentive, and specific foods requested of one another, contingent upon the food which a given chimpanzee has. From many perspectives, language acquisition is being tackled as a means of communication to meet pragmatic needs within a social context.